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We’ve read and loved these amazing books coming in the summer, fall and winter of 2018 and recommend them with full certainty you’ll love them, too (or hate them because the loathsome characters and circumstances were SO well-written that you want to give the author(s) a giant hug for their perfectly executed creative works, and then punch them in the nose for what their devastating masterpieces put you through. ALL THE FEELS.)
Host Note/Transparency Statement/Additional Disclaimer: All of these books were provided free of charge from the publisher for bloggers, bookstagrammers, librarians, and industry professionals to read and review. There is no financial or other compensation in either direction—one is not obligated to discuss, recommend, or publicize the books and criticism or polite silence is welcomed and respected. All of the new releases featured were read and loved by the actual human readers here, and we’re sharing and recommending them sincerely in good faith as excellent reads in this blog’s capacity as a reading resource. Thank you for your trust and passion for literature. Now go forth and delight in these stunners!
Ohio: A Novel by Stephen Markley
Raise your hand if multi-perspective novels set in iconic American wastelands, with interwoven narratives competing for most gaunt and raw knuckled, and hurt people hurting people to infinity until high school mistakes ripple out to coat the entire wounded world keep you up all night and begging and dreading the wretched end of the stories and your reading experience.
*RAISES HAND FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT*
Ohio takes no prisoners. Our children and grandchildren are going to be reading this one.
Five stars.
The Comedown by Rebekah Frumkin
Ms. Frumkin did NOT come to play. Every page of this multi-generational, blast-of-lightening debut novel is loaded with so much detail, so much nuance, so much enormous plot that you’re fully immersed by the middle of chapter one.
(Spoiler-Free, Gentle Warning: for those in substance recovery, please note that there’s constant description and realistic portrayal of active addiction in the book that got pretty tough to read for one of our team members working the steps.)
The Lion’s Binding Oath and Other Stories by Ahmed Ismail Yusuf
This is a powerful book that we cannot recommend strongly enough. Ahmed Ismail Yusuf has given the world a gift, that when opened reveals more gifts, and inside each of those gifts, ever more. The short stories of The Lion’s Binding Oath contain all that is good and should be cherished and protected, and all that is evil and should never be forgotten or ignored. Family, history, culture, art; cruelty, hunger, hate, war.
This Body’s Not Big Enough for Both of Us by Edgar Cantero
This is a wackadoodle romp that’s campy, trope-y, dorky, and alllllllmost begins to consider the idea of threatening some moments of insight, poignancy, or universal theme of meaning. It doesn’t. At all. Don’t read it thinking it will because it won’t. SO FUNNY.
Block out the next few weekends on your calendar. Take a giant nosedive into this series. You can thank us later. Twisty, turn-y, thrill-y, with our favorite eternal question/tagline of 2018:
Is it better to be loved, or feared…
Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson
You gon’ cry. Your mama gon’ cry. Just get a leg up and start crying now and when this hits your shelf you’ll be primed and ready. Written in correspondence style like 84, Charring Cross Road this is the charmer to end all charmers. Gorgeous novel, and like other recent five star read White Houses, Youngson’s debut features and celebrates characters outside of the 18-24 year old demographic.
The Devil’s Half Mile by Paddy Hirsch
Paddy Hirsch’s debut novel is about violent crime and financial disaster in New York City in 1799, with an edge-of-your-seat plot and stellar, brilliant character creation + historical accuracy/detail. Wonderful dialogue and the classic themes we know and love: murder, fraud, lust, greed, more murder, and then some fraud. Joking aside, this is an EXCELLENT thriller, but please note that it is, again, about violent crime and financial disaster in 18th century NYC.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
2018 is the year of the magical debuts, because Delia Owens has written a novel that we don’t deserve but desperately need. We were reminded of Rachel Carson’s descriptive power; the rhythm of Gullah live-storytelling; the surge and draw of life as a recluse. The book’s gonna make you cry some more but also going to make you blush and also make you wanna get in a fist fight with ten dudes twice your size and WIN. So grateful for this novel.
Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman
You don’t need us to tell you to read this book. Read it. Read. It.
Thank you for reading along with us! What’s your favorite read of 2018 so far?